Next to find his attention among the goodies Lula placed in front of him is a blue clay chip – like a poker chip, but the interior is stamped with the flaming crown logo of the Enchantworks. Whoa. A blue chip is equal to one gold coin worth of store credit at the Enchantworks, very high value stuff. If Cole scrimped and saved every penny he could for a month, he still couldn't afford one of those on a courier's salary. He sees them very now and then when working a delivery, but they aren't exactly common currency. He picks up the chip and turns his head to the woman standing beside him. "A blue chip? Do you need me to pick something up for you? My services as a courier are included in my daily rate, of course." He joked.
"After a fashion, yes. Or rather I need you to pick something up for you. Armor, specifically. Arms too if you need them."
"That's incredibly generous. Thank you. I carry a revolver in the field so I'm set for arms, I think."
"A revolver, huh? It'll do for now, I suppose. Not effective against all creatures in our area though, I should warn you. Never let your guard down."
Cole thinks back to the warg that shrugged off his bullets like they were limp-wristed slaps. "That's… incredibly good advice, Mrs. Charlemagne."
"Lula, dear. Mrs. Charlemagne feels too stuffy. All the same, some sturdy armor to protect your vital parts should be sufficient. I would encourage you to not neglect your own safety in the future too, Mr. Bridges."
"Please, call me Cole." He says, chuckling. "I think it's only fair. Not that I'm questioning your generosity, but shouldn't I be paying for my own armor?"
"In some firms, that is the philosophy. Windfall is less interested in maximizing short-term profit and more interested in keeping the people we employ healthy and working. Surveying will take you further off the beaten path and more into harm's way. If I'm investing in an asset, I'm going to protect it, too. Every day you're off the road due to injury is profit lost for both of us, after all." Lula said. She freshened their tea and set to work brewing another pot while Cole finished looking through the goods she gave him.
Cole slides the blue chip into his pocket and picks up a large piece of parchment folded accordion-style. He unfolds it carefully, revealing a map of the Green Belt Region traced with dotted lines. The title of the map at the top read 'GREEN BELT SURVEY ZONE'. It was an area that spanned several hundred square miles, encompassing both Wakeville and Beanfield, and covering much of the little-explored frontier area to the north and west. The vastness of the region surprised him – he thought he was a well-traveled guy, but based on this map, he has seen less than 5% of the roads covering the area depicted on the map.
That is a TON of territory. She wasn't kidding when she said I'd be going off the beaten path. Are there even roads that far out?
He folds the map back up and places it back on the table and picks up the final item. It's an envelope. A heavy envelope. He turns it upside down and dumps the contents into his hand. Twenty-five silver coins. "Is this my day rate? For today?" He asks.
"Of course, Cole. You will be paid your day rate each day that you are working, whether it is in the field or here in the office." Lula pulled the teapot off the stove and places it where Cole saw it first, nestled into a forest green tea towel sitting on the table.
Cole stuffs the coins back into the envelope and into his pocket. "Thank you so much for the opportunity, Lula. I will be the best surveyor Windfall Expeditions has ever seen." He says, standing from the table. He picks up the map and steps toward the exit.
"I have no doubt of that. I do have one last question before you're off to the Enchantworks, if you don't mind?"
"Of course not, Lula. Ask away."
"Why take this job, Cole?"
Cole sighs. He steps toward the doorway. "It's a long story. My girlfriend left me is the short version, I suppose. She never thought I was living up to my potential as a courier and got tired of waiting for me to be more successful. That was last night. So I did what any rational man would do: I got drunk about it. Saw her in the arms of another man, got more drunk about it. When I woke up, I hit the road and ended up here instead of the Courier Center. Probably shouldn't say that to my new employer, though."
Lula titters. "No need to worry, young man, I understand. Thank you for sharing. What I meant to ask, though, is why are you taking the surveyor job rather than the job as Hero?"
Cole's eyes bulged and he gulped air. "Um, what do you mean?"
She crosses her arms in front of her. "Come now, Cole. You are a Hero. Do you fear the dangers you might find in an expedition? There is no shame in that."
He blinks from the words as though he'd been slapped. She saw through him to his true nature as though it were written on his face. And to make it worse, she thinks I'm a coward?
A long silence passes before he gets any words to form. Eventually though, he asks, "How? How did you know? Did I say something that gave myself away?" Cole had met Heroes before, or at least seen them in passing, and he'd never been able to see anything about them that made it obvious they were a Hero, except for their equipment of course.
Lula lifts an eyebrow quizzically at him. "It was nothing you said, Cole. Your aura speaks for itself. Are you avoiding my question?"
Cole looks down at his body. He can't see any aura. He feels exposed, almost naked. What is she seeing that I'm not? He looks back to Lula. "I wasn't trying to. I chose the surveyor job because I'm not sure I'm ready to be a Hero. It's not that I'm afraid of the danger, I can assure you of that. It's just… I've only had mana in my system for," Cole thinks about it for a second before continuing, "twenty-six hours now, tops. I don't feel like a Hero yet. I need time to figure it out first."
She seems surprised, her arms uncrossing and hands moving to her hips. Her eyes scan over him in appraisal. "You are an interesting case, Cole Bridges. I appreciate you being so honest and open with me. You are right that only one day is not a long time to get acquainted with your new abilities."
"So you won't tell anyone?" Cole asks nervously. He looks at his feet, suddenly feeling very sheepish.
"I will keep your truth to myself. Anyone with good enough sight will know the same way I did, though." Lula says.
"Oh. And since I can't see my own aura I guess I don't have good enough sight to see other Heroes, right?"
She steps over to the front door and turns the sign from 'OPEN' to 'CLOSED' and flips the lock shut. "Not exactly. In this case, sight is a skill that you can train. Would you like me to teach you?"
"Yes, please! I will happily learn anything you can teach me. It would be an understatement to say that I'm feeling overwhelmed."
Lula smiles at the sudden honesty. "We will start with sight and see where we get. One step at a time."
They begin an impromptu training session right there in the cozy lobby of Windfall Expeditions. It begins in a way that is familiar to Cole: by focusing on the mana well at the base of his spine. He thinks of Gray and the strange mana-fueled dream he had in the basement of the branch office, but he doesn't say anything about it now. The process is easier in real life than it was in his dream. I can't read or run very well in dreams either, maybe this is like that, too.
With Lula's guidance, Cole brings focus to his third eye chakra. After a good deal of effort and concentration, he manages to hold focus on the mana well while bringing his attention to his third eye. The effect is instant and dazzling. Not only is he able to see his own aura glowing a faint white light around his entire body, but he can see magic elsewhere, too. Burning bright like a bonfire in front of him in a red that looks like hot iron is the aura of Lula Charlemagne, who five minutes ago Cole would have sworn was a civilian. He turns his head away from the bright light, and when he does so he can see that the entire room has magical energy scattered throughout – magepowered objects generate a soothing blue that matches the color of liquid mana. There are other objects faintly emitting various other colors, but Cole can't focus on anything specifically.
His thoughts shift and he loses focus, which causes his vision to shift back to normal. There is a faint sensation of headache teasing at his temples, he tries to blink it away. The sensation was intense and difficult for him to parse, he had no idea there was so much magical energy here. How much magic do I just walk by every day?